Background: Common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression among mothers of young children and expectants can silently deteriorate the health of the mother with significant impact on the newborn. The primary aims were to determine the proportion of pregnant women and mothers of children under one year with anxiety and depression and their associated factors in Sindhupalchowk.Methods: We used the Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 and a structured questionnaire in a cross-sectional study to collect information from 778 women (164 pregnant women, 614 mothers of children under one year) selected through multi-stage sampling. Results: Among pregnant women, the study found that 21.3% (95%CI:15.7–28.3) had anxiety and 23.8% (95%CI:17.8–31.0) had depression. Being from the Dalit ethnic group was independently associated with anxiety and depression. Among mothers of children under one year, 18.7% (95%CI:15.7–22.1) had anxiety and 15.2% (95%CI:12.4–18.4) had depression. Among these women, low education level; primary source of family income being agriculture, animal husbandry or labour; history of unplanned pregnancy; and use of tobacco were independently associated with anxiety and history of unplanned pregnancy and use of tobacco were independently associated with depression.Conclusions: A substantial proportion of women had anxiety and depression with higher odds of anxiety and depression in certain group of women. Targeted health system interventions are needed for improving the psychological well being of women, including pregnant women, as well as newborn health and wellbeing.

Background: Common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression among mothers of young children and expectants can silently deteriorate the health of the mother with significant impact on the newborn. The primary aims were to determine the proportion of pregnant women and mothers of children under one year with anxiety and depression and their associated factors in Sindhupalchowk.Methods: We used the Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 and a structured questionnaire in a cross-sectional study to collect information from 778 women (164 pregnant women, 614 mothers of children under one year) selected through multi-stage sampling. Results: Among pregnant women, the study found that 21.3%(95%CI:15.7–28.3) had anxiety and 23.8% (95%CI:17.8–31.0) had depression. Being from the Dalit ethnic group was independently associated with anxiety and depression. Among mothers of children under one year, 18.7% (95%CI:15.7–22.1) had anxiety and 15.2% (95%CI:12.4–18.4) had depression. Among these women, low education level; primary source of family income being agriculture, animal husbandry or labour; history of unplanned pregnancy; and use of tobacco were independently associated with anxiety and history of unplanned pregnancy and use of tobacco were independently associated with depression.Conclusions: A substantial proportion of women had anxiety and depression with higher odds of anxiety and depression in certain group of women. Targeted health system interventions are needed for improving the psychological well being of women, including pregnant women, as well as newborn health and wellbeing.Keywords: Anxiety; depression; mothers of children under one year; Nepal; pregnant women.

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Background: Low testosterone levels cause physiological changes that compromise the quality of life in ageing men. A standardised water extract from the root of Eurycoma longifolia (EL), known as Physta®, is known to increase testosterone levels. Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of Physta® in improving the testosterone levels and quality of life in ageing male subjects. Design: This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolled 105 male subjects aged 50–70 years with a testosterone level <300 ng/dL, BMI ≥ 18 and ≤30.0 kg/m2. The subjects were given either Physta® 100 mg, 200 mg or placebo daily for 12 weeks. The primary endpoints were changes in serum total and free testosterone levels. The secondary endpoints included changes in the level of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), dihydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), thyroid function tests (T3, T4, TSH and Free T3) and cortisol. Changes in Ageing Male Symptoms (AMS) score, Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) score and muscle strength are other secondary endpoints. The safety of the intervention products was measured by complete blood count, lipid profile, liver and renal function tests. Results: There was a significant increase in the total testosterone levels at week 12 (P < 0.05) in the Physta® 100 mg group and at weeks 4 (P < 0.05), 8 (P < 0.01) and 12 (P < 0.001) in the Physta® 200 mg group compared to placebo. No significant between-group differences in free testosterone levels were observed but a significant within-group increase occurred at weeks 4 (P < 0.01), 8 (P < 0.001) and 12 (P < 0.001) in the Physta®100 mg group and at weeks 2 (P < 0.01), 4 (P < 0.01), 8 (P < 0.001) and 12 (P < 0.001) in the Physta® 200 mg group. The AMS and FSS showed significant reduction (P < 0.001) in total scores at all time-points within- and between-group in both Physta® groups. DHEA levels significantly increased (P < 0.05) within-group in both Physta® groups from week 2 onwards. Cortisol levels significantly (P < 0.01) decreased in the Physta® 200 mg group, while muscle strength significantly (P < 0.001) increased in both Physta® groups at week 12 in the within-group comparison. There were no significant changes in SHBG. No safety related clinically relevant changes were observed. Conclusion: Supplementation of Physta® at 200 mg was able to increase the serum total testosterone, reduce fatigue and improve the quality of life in ageing men within 2 weeks’ time. Trial registration: This clinical study has been registered in ctri.nic.in (CTRI/2019/03/017959).

This systematic review aims to comparatively evaluate the sealing ability gutta-percha and resilon as root canal filling materials. A Medline search was conducted to identify in-vitro studies published between October 01, 2004 and October 01, 2019, conducted on human extracted teeth, published in English and testing the sealing ability of gutta-percha and resilon as root canal filling materials using fluid filtration method. The search identified fifty-five published articles. After a thorough screening, five articles meeting the selection, and validity assessment criteria were critically appraised. The results indicated that during the initial time-period, resilon/ epiphany sealer has better sealing ability than gutta-percha. However, over a period of time the resilon system demonstrated increased fluid flow. Gutta-percha with AH plus sealer showed the best long term sealing ability.